SCOOP MILLENNIUM SPECIAL: Scoop's Alastair Thompson asks the ARL Weather Supercomputer about the Christmas forecast in the Holy Land - Only On Scoop....

With lots of positive noises in Israel and Syria about this week’s peace negotiations in Washington Scoop is delighted to report that the new détente in the Middle East can expect to soon be sealed with a few millimetres of much needed rain.

Israel’s rain comes in from the sea today – December 13 in Israel.

Scoop can also report that the recent prayers of Islamic and Christian Iraqis for rain (reported on CNN) may soon be answered with a reasonable looking cloudburst in the north of Iraq at least. Iraq has been suffering from a crippling drought.

Looking out to the celebrations of the 2000th birthday of Jesus Christ in Jereusalem the weather report is not yet available unfortunately (the first version of ARL's Medium Range Forecast should be out Wednesday) - however there are some signs that more rain could be on the way and this time possibly more than a shower.

The following image shows the weather in the vicinity of the Holy Land three days out from the nativity with rain headed toward the festivities.

It should also be noted that this image of shows a fair bit of snow(or rain) getting dumped in Russia and in the vicinity of Chechnya.

Note: Super-computer weather modeling over periods longer than five days is not known for its pin point accuracy and it is usually only useful for providing a general indication of trends. The forecasts of rain in Israel and Iraq are produced within 30 hours of the events they show and are probably quite accurate, the forecast for December 22 is possibly less reliable.

The following images are snapshots of rain fall and pressure gradations taken from the Air Resources Laboratories “ready” supercomputer weather model.

TEL AVIV COOLER COMES IN FROM SEA

BAGHDAD CLOUDBURST

CHRISTMAS IS COMING - SOVIET SNOW

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Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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